Building Permits Soar In County

Developers obtained 5,825 building permits in Palm Beach County in the second quarter of this year -- a level one real estate analyst said is dangerously high.

Builders pulled more residential building permits in the April through June quarter than in any other three-month period since the second quarter of 1979, according to figures compiled by the News and Sun-Sentinel Co. Building permits are an indicator of future construction activity.

When those numbers are compiled as 12-month moving totals -- added up to show how many permits are granted in a year -- the level is just slightly below the pre-recession level of 1980 and `81. The Palm Beach County building market slumped badly by the middle of 1982.

That 12-month moving total for Palm Beach County works out to 20,042 units.

Thomas Powers, a real estate analyst with Goodkin Research in Fort Lauderdale, said his company forecasts demand for housing in the county this year will be approximately 17,800 units.

``I`m distressed that the numbers for Palm Beach County are as high as they are,`` Powers said. ``I know what sales are doing, and I know what rentals are doing. They just don`t justify this level of permitting.``

In conversations with his clients, he`s found, ``They all have one thing to say. The market is slow, it is slowing more, and it`s going to get slower.``

He said, ``There`s too much product in the marketplace relative to demand, way too much. In southern Palm Beach County, we estimate it will take two years to shake out.`` North of Hypoluxo Road the competition is not as great, he said.

``In the 12 years Goodkin Research has been in Florida, this is the most highly competitive and most overly anticipated housing environment we`ve ever encountered,`` he said.